Robin's Birdhouse: Mail Art - an all-in-one card

Hello and welcome to my first post as part of the Altered Pages design team! I appreciate the opportunity to share my art with you! This month, Altered Pages is teaming up with Unruly Paper Arts, which is a BlogZine with wonderful art, and Leaky Shed Studio products. Their theme this month is Mail Art and Moos. I had never heard of a MOO before. We’ll get back to that. First, let’s see my mail art project!

The Unruly Paper Arts April issue features an RAQ (ReaderArt Quest) challenge for their readers to play along and create using a theme and a visual prompt. Teacups and Tiaras was the theme this month. I made an all-in-one greeting card/envelope combo.

If you have an envelope template that would make an awesome starting point. I don’t have one so I cut mine out by hand to measure 10” x 7 1/4”. Using the paper in portrait format, score in 3/4” on each side, 2 1/2” up from the bottom and 3” down from the top. Fold along all lines and then cut out the four rectangle pieces in the corners as shown.

To create the inside greeting panel I used a Prima stencil and Versa Mark ink to give the background some texture.

While that was drying I started on the chipboard crown from Leaky Shed Studio. These little crowns are beautiful and since they are laser cut some of them have intricate patterns. I chose to gild the crown for this project so I chose a plain surface. I brushed on a coat of US Art Quest Duo adhesive. Once it was ready I brushed on the gold leaf by Gildenglitz. It created a beautiful shiny gold finish. I used a Leaky Shed teacup on this project, too. It was painted with bright blue acrylic paint with a matte finish. I wanted the only shiny thing on this project to be the crown!

I chose several images from Altered Pages collage images for both inside and outside of this project. I’ve provided a list and links below for you.

Finally, I knew I wanted a border at the top and while I was looking for one…I found three! All of them again from my favorite Bazzill package. (I’m starting to run out of these so I had better get some more!) The swirly border was cut in half to use as steam for the teacup. All four were inked with Dark Brown Colorbox Chalk Ink.

Because the envelope is part of the card I thought a word of caution was warranted and wrote “Open Gently” across the flap.

Now, what’s a MOO, right? For anyone who doesn’t know, they are bigger than an inchie and smaller than an ATC. They measure in approximately at 1 1/8” by 2 3/4”. I think they make cute little pops of color and design. Altered Pages has a page of MOO backgrounds or you can certainly make your own.